Earthquakes lose ground in MLS playoff race with loss

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Quake’s Arturo Alverez is tripped up by Real’s Nat Borchers (left) and Robbie Russell in the first half at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. on Saturday, September 27, 2008. The San Jose Earthquakes played the Real Salt Lake. (Jim Gensheimer/Mercury News)

A devastating 3-2 loss to Real Salt Lake on Saturday night at Buck Shaw Stadium ended San Jose’s nine-match unbeaten streak in Major League Soccer and put a crimp in the Quakes’ playoff hopes.

A crowd of 10,059 watched in disbelief as Real Salt Lake, which had managed one road victory in 12 previous tries this season, erased a 2-1 deficit in the second half of a bruising battle.

With five regular-season matches remaining, the last-place Quakes (7-10-8, 29 points) find themselves five points behind Real Salt Lake and Colorado, which are tied for third place. The top three teams in each conference make the playoffs, plus two wild cards from either conference.

For the first 49 minutes, the match featured a scoring clinic by the Quakes’ Darren Huckerby and Real’s Yura Movsisyan. Both players had two goals over the span. But San Jose was undone by Javier Morales’ free kick from 25 yards in the 59th minute. The deft shot dipped over a wall of defenders and sank into the near corner to his left, beating keeper Joe Cannon.

Movsisyan’s second goal, his fifth of the season, had tied the score 2-2 in the 49th minute, two minutes after Huckerby made it 2-1 with the help of Arturo Alvarez’s assist.

Huckerby, who has six goals and four assists in nine Quakes matches, was critical of his team’s tactics after it took the lead. The former English league veteran said San Jose should have played more conservatively at that point.

“When we (went) ahead 2-1 we really should have tried to kill the game off a bit more, and we didn’t,” he said. “I think we tried to be a bit too gung-ho. We’ve got to try and have more of an English mentality. You wouldn’t have seven-eight-nine guys pushing up in the box trying to score a goal. You’d have six-seven-eight men back defending. Maybe we got to start doing that a bit more.”

Alvarez, though, didn’t quite agree with that assessment: “I think, honestly, Darren has been with a lot of great clubs, and in England they play a different way. And I think that if we do get the lead, personally, I don’t think we should all back off and defend. That just is going to give the other team more time to attack, but we’ve got to be smart.”

Real Coach Jason Kreis said San Jose got “a little frustrated when we took the early lead.”

In a defensive breakdown in the third minute, San Jose let Movsisyan have a free run on the right flank. He got a through-ball from Morales, cut back to his left, then scored.

The Quakes tied it in the 23rd minute. Ryan Cochrane chipped a pass into open space for Huckerby, whose chip shot fell into the corner.

In the 33rd minute, San Jose had an apparent goal by Scott Sealy nullified by an offside call Sealy disputed. Six minutes later, Alvarez, breaking free about 35 yards from the Salt Lake net, was taken down hard from behind by Nat Borchers, who received a yellow card. The incident led players to fall on each other in a heap.

The wild first half continued as Movsisyan threatened again. Cannon charged at him and managed to swat away his first shot, but Movsisyan’s second appeared headed for the net before Cochrane cleared the ball off the line.

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Colorado 5, New York 4: Conor Casey’s third goal of the game with a little more than a minute remaining gave the Rapids victory.

Chivas USA 2, Kansas City 1: Sasha Victorine scored the game winner against his former teammates as Chivas (10-10-6) remained in second place in the Western Conference standings, two points ahead of Colorado and Real Salt Lake.

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